of the nautical almanack, and astronomical ephemeris, the calculations for finding the longitude will take up little more time than the calculation of an azimuth for finding the variation of the compass.

CHAPTER VI.-DEPARTURE FROM NEW SOUTH WALES; A PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS PRODUCTS, AND PEOPLE : A SPECIMEN OF THE LANGUAGE, AND SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON THE CURRENTS AND TIDES.

Or this country, its products, and its people, many particulars have already been related in the course of the narrative, being so interwoven with the events as not to admit of a separation. I shall now give a more full and circumstantial description of each, in which, if some things should happen to be repeated, the greater part will be found new.

New Holland, or, as I have now called the eastern coast, New South Wales, is of a larger extent than any other country in the known world that does not bear the name of a continent; the length of coast along which we sailed, reduced to a straight line, is no less than twentyseven degrees of latitude, amounting to near 2000 miles, so that its square surface must be much more than equal to all Europe. To the southward of 33 or 34, the land in general is low and level; farther northward it is hilly, but in no part can be called mountainous ; and the hills and mountains, taken together, make but a small part of the surface, in comparison with the valleys and plains. It is, upon the whole, rather barren than fertile yet the rising ground is chequered by woods and lawns, and the plains and valleys are in many places covered with herbage: the soil, however, is frequently sandy, and many of the lawns, or savannahıs, are rocky and barren, especially to the northward, where, in the best spots, vegetation was less vigorous than in the southern part of the country; the trees were not so tall, nor was the herbage so rich. The grass in general is high, but thin, and the trees, where they are largest, are seldom less than forty feet asunder; nor is the country inland, as far as we could examine it, better clothed than the sea-coast. The banks of the bays are covered with mangroves, to the distance of a mile within the beach, under which the soil is a rank mud, that is always overflowed by a spring-tide; farther in the country we sometimes met with a bog, upon which the grass was very thick and luxuriant, and sometimes with a valley, that was clothed with underwood: the soil in some parts seemed to be capable of improvement, but the far greater part is such as can admit of no cultivation. The coast, at least that part of it which lies to the northward of 25° S., abounds with fine bays and harbours, where vessels may lie in perfect security from all winds.

If we may judge by the appearance of the country while we were there, which was in the very height of the dry season, it is well watered: we found innumerable small brooks and springs, but no great rivers; these brooks, however, probably become large in the rainy season. Thirsty Sound was the only place where fresh water was not to be procured for the ship, and even there one or two small pools were found in the woods, though the face of the country was everywhere intersected by salt creeks and mangrove land.

Of trees, there is no great variety. Of those that could be called timber, there are but two sorts the largest is the gum-tree, which grows all over the country, and has been mentioned already: it has narrow leaves, not much unlike a willow; and the gum, or rather resin, which it yields, is of a deep red, and resembles the sanguis draconis; possibly it may be the same, for this substance is known to be the produce of more than one plant. It is mentioned by Dampier, and is perhaps the same that Tasman found upon Diemen's Land, where he says he saw "gum of the trees, and gum lac of the ground." The other timber tree is that which grows somewhat like our pines, and has been particularly mentioned in the account of Botany Bay. The wood of both these trees, as I have before remarked, is extremely hard and heavy. Besides these, here are trees covered with a soft bark that is easily peeled off, and is the same that in the East Indies is used for the calking of ships*.

*This tree belongs to the genus Eucalyptus. Two species known by the colonists as "Stringy bark" and "Boxwood," but more particularly the former, are preferred, as from them the bark is more readily stripped

in pieces of the large size usually required. The several uses to which it is applied by the natives are noticed hereafter.-ED.

We found here the palm of three different sorts. The first, which grows in great plenty to the southward, has leaves that are platted like a fan : the cabbage of these is small, but exquisitely sweet; and the nuts, which it bears in great abundance, are very good food for hogs. The second sort bore a much greater resemblance to the true cabbage-tree of the West Indies; its leaves were large and pinnated, like those of the cocoa-nut; and these also produced a cabbage, which, though not so sweet as the other, was much larger. The third sort, which, like the second, was found only in the northern parts, was seldom more than ten feet high, with small piunated leaves, resembling those of some kind of fern: it bore no cabbage, but a plentiful crop of nuts, about the size of a large chesnut, but rounder. As we found the hulls of these scattered round the places where the Indians had made their fires, we took for granted that they were fit to eat; those, however, who made the experiment, paid dear for their knowledge of the contrary, for they operated both as an emetic and cathartic with great violence. Still, however, we made no doubt but that they were eaten by the Indians; and, judging that the constitution of the hogs might be as strong as theirs, though our own had proved to be so much inferior, we carried them to the sty; the hogs ate them, indeed, and for some time, we thought, without suffering any inconvenience; but in about a week they were so much disordered, that two of them died, and the rest were recovered with great difficulty. It is probable, however, that the poisonous quality of these nuts may lie in the juice, like that of the cassada of the West Indies; and that the pulp, when dried, may be not only wholesome, but nutritious. Besides these species of the palm and mangroves, there were several small trees and shrubs altogether unknown in Europe, particularly one which produced a very poor kind of fig; another that bore what we called a plum, which it resembled in colour, but not in shape, being flat on the sides like a little cheese; and a third, that bore a kind of purple apple, which, after it had been kept a few days, became eatable, and tasted somewhat like a damson.

Here is a great variety of plants to enrich the collection of a botanist, but very few of them are of the esculent kind. A small plant, with long, narrow, grassy leaves, resembling that kind of bulrush which in England is called the Cat's-tail, yields a resin of a bright yellow colour, exactly resembling gamboge, except that it does not stain; it has a sweet smell, but its properties we had no opportunity to discover, any more than those of many others with which the natives appear to be acquainted, as they have distinguished them by names.

I have already mentioned the root and leaves of a plant resembling the cocco of the West Indies, and a kind of bean; to which may be added, a sort of parsley and purslain, and two kinds of yams, one shaped like a radish, and the other round, and covered with stringy fibres: both sorts are very small, but sweet; and we never could find the plants that produced them, though we often saw the places where they had been newly dug up; it is probable that the drought had destroyed the leaves, and we could not, like the Indians, discover them by the stalks.

Most of the fruits of this country, such as they are, have been mentioned already. We found one in the southern part of the country resembling a cherry, except that the stone was soft; and another, not unlike a pine-apple in appearance, but of a very disagreeable taste, which is well known in the East Indies, and is called by the Dutch Pyn Appel Boomen.

Of the quadrupeds, I have already mentioned the dog, and particularly described the kanguroo, and the animal of the opossum kind, resembling the phalanger of Buffon; to which I can add only one more, resembling a polecat, which the natives call Quoll; the back is brown, spotted with white, and the belly white unmixed. Several of our people said they had seen wolves; but, perhaps, if we had not seen tracks that favoured the account, we might have thought them little more worthy of credit than he who reported that he had seen the devil.

Of bats, which hold a middle place between the beasts and the birds, we saw many kinds, particularly one which, as I have observed already, was larger than a partridge; we were not fortunate enough to take one either alive or dead, but it was supposed to be the same as Buffon has described by the name of Rouset or Rouget.

The sea and other water-fowl of this country, are gulls, shaggs, solan geese, or gannets, of two sorts; boobies, noddies, curlews, ducks, pelicans of an enormous size, and many others. The land-birds are crows, parrots, paroquets, cockatoos, and other birds of the same kind, of exquisite beauty; pigeons, doves, quails, bustards, herons, cranes, hawks, and eagles. The pigeons flew in numerous flocks, so that, notwithstanding their extreme shyness, our people frequently killed ten or twelve of them in a day: these birds are very beautiful, and crested very differently from any we had seen before.

Among other reptiles, here are serpents of various kinds, some noxious, and some harmless; scorpions, centipedes, and lizards. The insects are but few. The principal are the mosquito and the ant. Of the ant there are several sorts; some are as green as a leaf, and live upon trees, where they build their nests of various sizes, between that of a man's head and his fist. These nests are of a very curious structure: they are formed by bending down several of the leaves, each of which is as broad as a man's hand, and gluing the points of them together, so as to form a purse; the viscus used for this purpose, is an animal juice, which nature has enabled them to elaborate. Their method of first bending down the leaves, we had not an opportunity to observe; but we saw thousands uniting all their strength to hold them in this position, while other busy multitudes were employed within, in applying the gluten that was to prevent their returning back. To satisfy ourselves that the leaves were bent, and held down by the effort of these diminutive artificers, we disturbed them in their work, and as soon as they were driven from their station, the leaves on which they were employed, sprung up with a force much greater than we could have thought them able to conquer by any combination of their strength. But, though we gratified our curiosity at their expense, the injury did not go unrevenged; for thousands immediately threw themselves upon us, and gave us intolerable pain with their stings, especially those who took possession of our necks and our hair, from whence they were not easily driven: the sting was scarcely less painful than that of a bee; but, except it was repeated, the pain did not last more than a minute.

Another sort are quite black, and their operations and manner of life are not less extraordinary. Their habitations are the inside of the branches of a tree, which they contrive to excavate by working out the pith almost to the extremity of the slenderest twig; the tree at the same time flourishing, as if it had no such inmate. When we first found the tree we gathered some of the branches, and were scarcely less astonished than we should have been to find that we had profaned a consecrated grove, where every tree, upon being wounded, gave signs of life; for we were instantly covered with legions of these animals, swarming from every broken bough, and inflicting their stings with incessant violence. They are mentioned by Rumphius in his Herbarium Amboinense, vol. ii. p. 257; but the tree in which he saw their dwelling is very different from that in which we found them.

A third kind we found nested in the root of a plant, which grows on the bark of trees in the manner of mistletoe, and which they had perforated for that use. This root is commonly as big as a large turnip, and sometimes much bigger: when we cut it we found it intersected by innumerable winding passages, all filled with these animals, by which, however, the vegetation of the plant did not appear to have suffered any injury. We never cut one of these roots that was not inhabited, though some were not bigger than a hazel-nut. The animals themselves are very small, not more than half as big as the common red ant in England. They had stings, but scarcely force enough to make them felt; they had, however, a power of tormenting us in an equal, if not a greater degree; for the moment we handled the root, they swarmed from innumerable holes, and running about those parts of the body that were uncovered, produced a titillation more intolerable than pain, except it is increased to great violence. Rumphius has also given an account of this bulb and its inhabitants, vol. vi. p. 120, where he mentions another sort that are black.

We found a fourth kind, which are perfectly harmless, and almost exactly resemble the white ants of the East Indies; the architecture of these is still more curious than that of the others. They have houses of two sorts; one is suspended on the branches of trees, and the other erected upon the ground: those upon the trees are about three or four times as big as a man's head, and are built of a brittle substance, which seems to consist of small parts of

vegetables kneaded together with a glutinous matter, which their bodies probably supply ; upon breaking this crust, innumerable cells, swarming with inhabitants, appear in a great variety of winding directions, all communicating with each other, and with several apertures that lead to other nests upon the same tree; they have also one large avenue, or covered way, leading to the ground, and carried on under it to the other nest or house that is constructed there. This house is generally at the root of a tree, but not of that upon which their other dwellings are constructed: it is formed like an irregularly sided cone, and sometimes is more than six feet high, and nearly as much in diameter. Some are smaller; and these are generally flat-sided, and very much resemble in figure the stones which are seen in many parts of England, and supposed to be the remains of druidical antiquity. The outside of these is of well-tempered clay, about two inches thick; and within are the cells, which have no opening outwards, but communicate only with the subterranean way to the houses on the tree, and to the tree near which they are constructed, where they ascend up the root, and so up the trunk and branches, under covered ways of the same kind as those by which they descended from their other dwellings. To these structures on the ground they probably retire in the winter, or rainy seasons, as they are proof against any wet that can fall; which those in the tree, though generally constructed under some overhanging branch, from the nature and thinness of their crust or wall, cannot be.

The sea in this country is much more liberal of food to the inhabitants than the land; and though fish is not quite so plenty here as they generally are in higher latitudes, yet we seldom hauled the seine without taking from fifty to two hundred weight. They are of various sorts; but except the mullet, and some of the shellfish, none of them are known in Europe: most of them are palatable, and some are very delicious. Upon the shoals and reef there are incredible numbers of the finest green turtle in the world, and oysters of various kinds, particularly the rock-oyster and the pearl-oyster. The gigantic cockles have been mentioned already; besides which there are sca-crayfish, or lobsters*, and crabs; of these, however, we saw only the shells. In the rivers and salt crecks there are alligators. The only person who has hitherto given any account of this country or its inhabitants is Dampier; and though he is, in general, a writer of credit, yet in many particulars he is mistaken. The people whom he saw were indeed inhabitants of a part of the coast very distant from that which we visited; but we also saw inhabitants upon parts of the coast very distant from each other; and there being a perfect uniformity in person and customs among them all, it is reasonable to conclude that distance in another direction has not considerably broken it.

The number of inhabitants in this country appears to be very small in proportion to its extent. We never saw so many as thirty of them together but once, and that was at Botany Bay, when men, women, and children, assembled upon a rock to see the ship pass by: when they manifestly formed a resolution to engage us, they never could muster above fourteen or fifteen fighting men, and we never saw a number of their sheds or houses together that could accommodate a larger party. It is true, indeed, that we saw only the sea-coast on the eastern side; and that, between this and the western shore, there is an immense tract of country wholly unexplored: but there is great reason to believe that this immense tract is either wholly desolate, or at least still more thinly inhabited than the parts we visited. It is impossible that the inland country should subsist inhabitants at all seasons without cultivation it is extremely improbable that the inhabitants of the coast should be totally ignorant of arts of cultivation, which were practised inland; and it is equally improbable that, if they knew such arts, there should be no traces of them among them. It is certain that we did

* A small and new species of lobster, which is very delicious eating, is found in the Yas River, and in the muddy ponds on the Yas plains. These are called by the aborigines Murngonan. They burrow deep into the mud. In the Munumbidgu, Yas, Tumas, and other large rivers, there is a different and larger species of lobster, which is frequently found in the stomachs of the river-cod. This kind is called Mungola by the natives; and they are captured measuring a foot and a foot and a half in length,

and weighing three or four pounds. In March the season commences at Sydney for crayfish, which are caught in large quantities, and of enormous size, about the sea-coast, and are hawked about the street at a cheap rate; thus in this colony crayfish abound in the sca, and lobsters in the river-the reverse of the case at home.-See "Bennett's Wanderings in New South Wales," vol. i. p. 211.-ED.

not see one foot of ground in a state of cultivation in the whole country, and therefore it may well be concluded, that where the sea does not contribute to feed the inhabitants, the country is not inhabited.

The only tribe with which we had any intercourse we found where the ship was careened: it consisted of one-and-twenty persons, twelve men, seven women, one boy, and one girl: the women we never saw but at a distance, for when the men came over the river they were always left behind. The men, here and in other places, were of a middle size, and in general well made, clean-limbed, and remarkably vigorous, active, and nimble: their countenances were not altogether without expression, and their voices were remarkably soft and effeminate. Their skins were so uniformly covered with dirt, that it was very difficult to ascertain their true colour: we made several attempts, by wetting our fingers and rubbing it, to remove the incrustations, but with very little effect. With the dirt, they appear nearly as black as a negro, and according to our best discoveries, the skin itself is of the colour of wood soot, or what is commonly called a chocolate colour. Their features are far from being disagreeable; their noses are not flat, nor are their lips thick; their teeth are white and even, and their hair naturally long and black, it is, however, universally cropped short; in general, it is straight, but sometimes it has a slight curl; we saw none that was not matted and filthy, though without oil or grease, and to our great astonishment free from lice. Their beards were of the same colour with their hair, and bushy and thick; they are not, however, suffered to grow long. A man, whom we had seen one day with his beard somewhat longer than his companions, we saw the next with it somewhat shorter, and upon examination found the ends of the hairs burnt; from this incident, and our having never seen any sharp instrument among them, we concluded that both the hair and the beard were kept short by singeing them.

Both sexes, as I have already observed, go stark naked, and seem to have no more sense of indecency in discovering the whole body, than we have in discovering our hands and face. Their principal ornament is the bone, which they thrust through the cartilage that divides the nostrils from each other. What perversion of taste could make them think this a decoration, or what could prompt them, before they had worn it or seen it worn, to suffer the pain and inconvenience that must of necessity attend it, is perhaps beyond the power of human sagacity to determine. As this bone is as thick as a man's finger, and between five and six inches long, it reaches quite across the face, and so effectually stops up both the nostrils, that they are forced to keep their mouths wide open for breath, and snuffle so when they attempt to speak, that they are scarcely intelligible even to each other.

Our